I’ll admit it, I’m averse to flying in adverse weather conditions. Actually, I’m not fond of flying at all, but I wanted to illustrate the difference between “averse” and “adverse.”

Barry Wood

I’ll admit it, I’m averse to flying in adverse weather conditions. Actually, I’m not fond of flying at all, but I wanted to illustrate the difference between “averse” and “adverse.”

The former applies to a person’s attitude, being opposed to or unwilling to do something. It’s a human thing. The related noun is “aversion.”

“Adverse” is for describing a thing as being opposite, unfavorable or harmful. Related words include “adversity,” “adversary” and, interestingly, “advertise.”

All of them have the same root, the Latin verb “vertere,” for “to turn.” In fact, many English words containing “vers” or “vert” can be traced back to that word. Let’s explore this diverse family — and “diverse” is one of them.

Among the human family, there are people who are turned inward — “introverts” — and people who are turned outward — “extroverts.”

There also are people who have been turned from one path to another — “converts” — and others who aren’t so much turned as twisted — “perverts.”

Other bad apples on this family tree are the “subversives.” Their goal is “to overthrow or destroy” or “to undermine or corrupt, as in morals.”

In the inanimate world, there are two sides to a coin. The one with the main design and the date is the “obverse.” The other is the “reverse.”

Of course, “reverse” has other uses as well. In addition to the gear your vehicle needs for backing up, we have a change-of-direction play in football and the “reverse layup” in basketball, “reversible” clothing, “reverse discrimination,” “reverse engineering,” “reverse mortgage” and “reverse the charges” — to name a few.

Similarly, there’s more to “convert” than religion and philosophy. In sports, a “conversion” adds to your score. In finance, it can add to your portfolio.

Maybe you drive a “conversion van” or a “convertible.”

And let’s not forget the “converse” that leads to “conversation.”

Perhaps the most interesting one is “diverse” and its gang. “Diverse” is one of those words that means different things to different people, but as far as the dictionary is concerned, it’s just “different” — or “varied.”

But the verb “divert” leads in diverse directions. It can mean “to deflect,” “to distract the attention of” or “to amuse; entertain.”

So “diversions” can be serious, as in “diversionary” tactics in the military.

But they also can be light, as a pastime or amusement. Specific examples include a short ballet called a “divertissement,” from the French, and an instrumental composition called a “divertimento,” from the Italian.

See, it really is a versatile root — yes, “versatile” is an additional one.